Written by John Boon (Burpham Gardening Club)

May & June 2022

The delayed AGM will be on Tuesday 24th May at 7.30pm, when the future of the Club will need to be decided.

Time to welcome your slugs and snails.

So says the Royal Horticultural Society, as it recently began a campaign to encourage us to see the gastropods in our gardens in a better light.

“Our gardens would be duller and messier without them.”

The RHS says that the species play a key role in garden ecosystems, and thus are in need of ‘positive PR’. It seems that only nine of the 44 known species in the UK are likely to threaten our gardens, and that all of them play a vital role in recycling dead plant material and animal waste, and acting as a food source for hedgehogs, frogs, birds, beetles and flies.

In fact, the RHS’s principal entomologist says that we should consider our slugs and snails not as marauding pests bent on eating our flowers and vegetables, but rather as ‘garden visitors’. “Our gardens would be duller and messier without them.”

Things to do in the garden in May.

• French and Runner Beans can now be sown outdoors.
• There is still time to sow Courgettes and Squash in pots for planting out later, remember always to sow the seed standing on edge to aid germination.

A Spring and Summer dressing should be applied to lawns when rain is forecast.

• Kale, Leeks and Purple Sprouting should be sown now for harvesting during the Winter months.
• Brussel Sprouts and Tomatoes should be planted towards the end of the month after the risk of a frost has past, start removing side shoots from Tomatoes except for Bush varieties.
• Spray Roses regularly with a systemic insecticide to control Blackspot and Greenfly. Sweet Peas need to be tied to supports as they grow.
• Towards the end of the month plant out young Dahlia plants and tubers.
• A Spring and Summer dressing should be applied to lawns when rain is forecast.

Things to do in the garden in June.

• When Early Potatoes come into flower they are ready to be dug.
• Sow French and Runner Beans for a late crop.
• Plant out Courgettes and Squash. Fast growing Annuals such as Calendula can be sown where they are to grow.
• Complete the planting of Summer Bedding Plants Cannas, Dahlias and Gladioli.

Sow French and Runner Beans for a late crop.

• Dead head Delphiniums and Lupins to encourage a second flush.
• Spring flowering shrubs such as Forsythia and Philadelphus should be pruned but leave Magnolias until they are in full leaf.